Human hair requires cleaning, since the hair fibers become soiled, both from environmental contamination as well as contamination and soiling from chemical agents produced by the body. Generally, shampooing is employed to clean the hair by removing excess soil and body oils which have built up on the hair fibers. Unfortunately, while being capable of cleaning the hair fibers, shampoos generally leave the hair stripped, over-processed and difficult to manage.
In an attempt to eliminate these problems, various hair conditioning aids have been developed. In fact, hair conditioning aids are numerous and have appeared in almost every conceivable form--liquids, solids, emulsions, aqueous and oil solutions as well as chemicals embedded in flexible substrates which are rubbed throughout the hair to achieve transfer to the hair. Unfortunately, these prior art systems have been unable to attain all of the requirements for a good hair conditioner.
In general, a hair conditioner should be capable of effectively grooming the hair and keeping it in place, thereby leaving the hair natural in appearance, without any evidence that a hair conditioner has been used. Clearly, no oily film should remain on the hair fibers which can act as a dirt catcher. Furthermore, the hair conditioner must leave the hair with a high luster, gloss, sheen, as well as provide the entire head of hair with a full-bodied appearance, with the hair being easily managed and feeling soft and silky.
In addition to being unable to provide all of these qualities, prior art hair conditioners are also typically difficult to thoroughly apply to all of the hair fibers. Furthermore, many prior art compositions are cumbersome to use.
Recently, gel formulations of hair conditioners have become popular. However, due to the viscous nature of these prior art gel-type hair conditioners, these conditioners are typically dispensed directly through the portal of the container and are pumped through a large orifice. Regardless of which type of dispensing system is used, a large quantity of the gel is dispensed into the hands of the beautician or user followed by vigorous rubbing of the hands, in order to liquify the gel.
This process is time consuming, and often leaves the hands of the beautician or the user with an oily film which must be washed off. Any attempt to dispense these prior art gel conditioners through smaller orifices merely causes the orifices to clog and become unusable.
Therefore, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a hair conditioner having a gel formulation which is capable of being dispensed quickly and easily in a spray form through small diameter orifices.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a gel-type hair conditioner having the characteristic features described above which is capable of being applied directly to the head of hair quickly and easily by merely spraying the gel formulation on the hair.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a gel-type hair conditioner having the characteristic features described above which is capable of being sprayed through conventional, small-diameter pump spray nozzles repeatedly, without clogging the spray orifices, producing a mist-type spray.
Other and more specific objects will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.